Art and CognitivePsychology CARLCARPIO
Imagine walking in the middle of the night along Manila Boulevard. The streets are dark, and only some light coming from the lamp serves as your guide. As you walk, you see a white-like figure floating quite fast, approaching your direction. Would you perceive it as a ghost? Or just a white plastic being flown away by the night breeze?
The anatomical and physiological systems that we have as humans are very complex and intricate. Our senses, specifically, help us make sense of the whole world around us. We all know since elementary that we have five senses– seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching. However, sometimes, these procedures are not fully accurate and might lead us to incorrect conclusions.
In this short zine, I would like to briefly discuss the two processes of sensation and perception, the topdown and bottom-up approaches. As we move further, I would try to engage in some applications and reflections, specifically on the concept of illusion.
Arguably one of the most known approaches to sensation and perception is the bottom-up approach. It states that we perceive things from our environment that are rich with various stimuli. It highly relates to James Gibson’s Ecological Theory of Perception which states that we directly perceive our environment, without the help of previous experiences or knowledge. In short, whatwe seeiswhatweget, there is not much cognitive processing involved in this process.
There are various processes that perfectly encapsulate this hypothesis. For example, the way we sense and perceive color is heavily reliant on the structure and physiology of our eyes. Certain parts function specifically on perceiving the presence and absence of light, which results in us seeing colors.
Furthermore, the perceived depth and size cues are also subjected to this processing. For example, we perceive objects are farther away when it is covered (occlusion) or closer to the horizon (relative size)
Another complementary, but opposite, approach to the bottom-up approach is the top-down approach. It basically states that our previous experiences and knowledge are also essential in the process of perceiving and sensing. This appears to be true, especially when the stimulus that we are facing is unfamiliar or novel. Considerthepicturebelow.Basedonthisverylittle information,whatisthis?
If we are shown a gist of a scene that is familiar to us or that we were exposed to before, we can easily fill in the gaps and perceive a complete picture of it.
Another example, can you read this?
Our previous knowledge also helps us infer and perceive information that is unconventionally presented.
The bottom-up and top-down processing are two complementary systems that help us make sense of the world and are essential in our everyday functioning. However, our systems of sensing and perceiving may sometimes be faulty and not be fully accurate.
One infamous example of this is the #TheDress debate in 2015. In this viral phenomenon, people were divided on whether the dress was black and blue or white and gold. This divergence stemmed from how individuals processed the color of the image, specifically in interpreting the amount of light in the environment. https://slate.com/technology/2017/04/heres -why-people-saw-the-dress-differently.html
Optical illusions also show how we can easily be deceived by our own systems. For example, the castles in Disneyland are using principles of forced perspective and atmospheric perspective to make the structures look larger from afar.
ImagesfromDuchessofDisneyland
deception, we need to be fully aware and conscious of the stimuli that we perceive, especially on important and essential societal issues.
